1. Identity, Subjectivity and the Meaning and Practices of Everyday Life
The Cultural Turn
Identity, Subjectivity and the Meaning and Practices of Everyday Life

2. The Concept of Culture A problematic concept
Integral to study of identity
cultural situatedness, cultural pursuits and practices shape our sense of self
Culture shapes attachment to identity
Culture has material effects

3. the study of culture in the social sciences
From social anthropology to present day
cultures and subcultures, leisure activities and shopping, football hooliganism, the political culture of groups and organisations - just a few of the areas that the intellectual tradition that has become known as cultural studies have become interested in

4. So what is cultural studies?
Exciting field of study
Interested in micro level analysis
spans the arts, the humanities, geography even science and technology

5. Definitions of Culture
hotly contested concept
rules and conventions that govern social behaviour
material artefacts that societies utilise and produce when they are going about the business of daily life
an abstraction that exists only in the mind

6. EP Thompson on Culture
EP Thompson ‘Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society (Thompson 1871).
A broad definition
highlights the notion that culture is something that is learned and something that is shared.

7. Raymond Williams on Culture
Founding father of cultural studies
‘culture includes the organisation of production, the structure of the family the structure of institutions which express or govern social relationships, the characteristic forms through which members of society communicate’

8. Karl Marx on Culture
separate but interlinked relationship between culture and the economy
economic base determines the cultural superstructure
capitalist societies have a very different culture to communist or feudal societies.

9. Clifford Geertz on Culture
noted the role of personal and group story telling or narrative in culture
‘culture is simply the ensemble of stories we tell about ourselves’

10. Cultural studies
cultural studies does not have a clearly defined set of interests or objects of study
lacks its own distinct set of theories or methodology
borrows heavily from a range of disciplines such as sociology, anthroplogy, socio-linguistics, literary criticism, art theory, political science, psychology

11. Sarder and Van Loon (1998) five main characteristics.
examines its subject matter in terms of cultural practices and their relation to power
Studies culture in context
two functions: it is both the object of study and a site of political critique and political action
attempts to reveal and to reconcile the division of knowledge
committed to a moral evaluation of modern societies and a radical political response

12. The Concept of the Sign in Cultural Studies
key concept in cultural studies is that of the sign
comes from the structural liguinstics of Ferdinand de Saussure and semiotics
symbolic aspects of language, image and text

13. 3 Basic Features of the Sign
The sign has a concrete form
it refers to something other than itself, in other words the sign always has some other referent
It is commonly recognised by most people within the cultural context that it comes from, to signify the same thing.

14. Elements in the Process of Signification
Sign- the mental image or concept.
Signifier- the object or word
Signified- the symbolic thing or mental association that the sign refers to

15. Saussure on Language language generates meaning in a special way
Language produces meaning because it is part of a system of relationships of similarity and difference.
we understand the linguistic sign ‘dog’ because it conjures up a mental image of dogness. It is not man, it is not cow, it is not cauliflower

16. Language and Shared Meaning
Language works because we have a shared set of concepts and common understandings
The principles which geovern language also organise other symbolic forms of communication
Some objects, although apparently similar have very different symbolic values and we understand their symbolic value because they are part of a system of rich symbols

17. The Meaning of Objects Similar objects can have different meaning
Context and use alter meaning
Same article of clothing-jeans- different significations
meaning of signs is not fixed it can change over time

18. The Meaning of Burberry
Shift in meaning over time.
Once signified wealth and status
Now symbolises ‘chavness’ or the underclass

19. Signification and Identity
Use of body in signification
Tattoos, peircing, clothing, eating
Signifies who we are and how we want to be seen
Others who share our culture can read the body
Shared systems of referents

20. Problems with Signification
Not a smooth unproblematic process
Frequent misunderstandings
Cross cultural differences in meaning
Objects and practices can have many meanings
They are polysemic
Opportunities to ‘misread’
But we still rely heavily on signification to make sense of the world

21. Why is it important to understand Signification?
helps us to understand power relationships and social control
part of the process of representation
Through representation abstract and ideological forms are given a concrete form.
Representations prop up political systems, they are ideological.

22. Representing the Other
non- western cultures represented as the ‘other’ of the West
That which is not us,
non-whites, women, homosexuals are seen as the ‘other’
‘others’ are ascribed with negative identities

23. Meaning making and Representation
All meaning making is to an extent subjective
meanings change over time
meanings have been shaped by history
cultural studies sphere of interest is about looking at how and why meanings change

24. Cultural theory and political critique
cultural theory has provided some of the most vehement criticisms of slavery and colonialism, of class inequality, of racism and sexism
often been accused with being obsessed with the underdogs
Cultural studies has attempted to reveal how marginalised groups build their identities

25. A Critique of Cultural studies
accused of obsessing about mostly white culture
founding fathers, EP Thompson , Richard Hoggart, Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall… all came from working class backgrounds
All helped set up BCCS

26. Cultural Studies and ‘Race’
Notions of Race and Ethnicity have become central in cultural studies
‘Race’ a socially constructed category
not a set of objective social categories
no biologically significant diffrenecs between so-called racial groups.
differences are ideologically constructed they have developed in the context of imperialism
Modernity has generated racism and social hatred as a justification for the subjugation and exploitation of non-white peoples

27. Ali Rattansi on Race
in racist cultures ethnic identities are racialised.
biological discourses around difference and superiority and inferiority are combined with cultural signifiers such as religion, clothing, food and eating practices to legitimate social exclusion, exploitation, inferiorisation and violence against the ‘other’.

28. Identity and the ‘Other’
‘our’ culture as pure with ‘other’ culture being viewed as potentially polluting
The ‘others’ identity is dangerous, dirty potentially contaminating.
But- no such thing as a pure culture.
All cultures hybrid
The culture of the ‘other’ under threat from the west
Globalisation damages local culture

29. Final words
identities are something that are experienced most profoundly when they are under threat
Whether that threat is subjective or objective is a matter for debate
. Cultural studies is at the forefront of critiques of globalisation
Isolationist identities such as various forms of political separatism and religious fundamentalism can be seen as a back lash against increasing cultural convergence and homogenisation.